Recent College Graduates With Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Education: A Demographic Profile

The purpose of this study was to examine demographics of graduates with bachelor’s degrees in music education to better understand the collegiate pipeline for music teachers of color. White overrepresentation has been observed throughout the music education profession, but the field lacks a large-scale demographic profile for recent college graduates in music education. Using data collected from 565 institutions reporting music education graduates in IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Data System) as well as 40 additional schools, 29,869 students graduated with bachelor’s degrees in music education between 2011 and 2018; 81% were White, 7% were Hispanic/Latino, 4% were Black/African American, 2% were Asian, 0.5% were American Indian/Native Alaskan, 0.1% were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and 2% identified as two or more races. In addition, HBCUs and HSIs comprised only 5% and 6%, respectively, of schools in this data set, yet accounted for almost 1/3 of all Black and 1/4 of all Latino music education graduates.